Underwater lighting (was: Florida Flag Fish)

["Kevin Buckley" <kevin at buckley70_freeserve.co.uk>]

"... he had ordinary incandescent bulbs, hanging downwards from ceramic
sockets screwed to a board, partially submerged IN the water of each tank."

Has anyone considered (a safer version of) this as a possibility - using
something other than incandescent?

Presumably it would be a significantly more effective use of the light
output because there would be no partial reflection from the water surface &
the light source could be nearer to the plants.

Getting rid of the heat might be a problem though.

Kevin Buckley


----- Original Message -----
> Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 20:50:02 EDT
> From: JOlson8590 at aol_com
> Subject: Florida Flag Fish
>
> I first saw this fish in 1953 - a now deceased Botany Professor at Iowa
State
> University had a little Fish Store in his basement, and he introduced me
to
> them.  He called them Florida Flag Fish.  He had an "interesting"
> (potentially fatal, in fact!) way of heating those basement tanks - he had
> ordinary incandescent bulbs, hanging downwards from ceramic sockets
screwed
> to a board, partially submerged IN the water of each tank.  Heat and light
at
> the same time.  I remember he had Cryptocoryne griffithii blooming under
the
> bulb in one tank.  The bulbs, burning 24 hours a day, lasted for years,
> probably because they never got very hot.
>
> So - - - - - We have the colors of the Jordanian Flag, one person says it
was
> named after the German Flag, others the American Flag.
>
> Hey, it is cool little fish!  I have had them spawn in a patch of hair
algae
> in the bottom of a gallon jar!  Mama was hovering near the surface, papa
was
> frantically fanning eggs with his pectoral fins, first on one side then
the
> other.  A lot like Red Skelton's Gertrude and Heathcliff, one arm at a
time.
>
> OK, fess up - how many of you remembe Gertrude and Heathcliff?
>
> Jean
/aquaria/aquatic-plants.